Love Tools: Bluestone Series, #1 by Isobel Reed

Author:Isobel Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Small Town Romance, Running from Danger, Mother and child, Father's Legacy, Cowboy, Opposites Attract
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Jake winced as his phone bellowed out again. It wasn’t a dream like he’d initially thought, and whoever was ringing him was clearly not giving up. Craning his neck, he glared over at his clock; it was just gone midnight.

Who the hell is calling so late?

Eyes still filled with sleep, he opened them just enough to answer.

“What?” he groaned into the speaker.

“Jake? Hi, it’s Teddy,” a sheepish voice replied. “Um, I’m sorry to ring you so late, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

Suddenly alert, Jake’s heart started to thump against his ribs as his thoughts spiralled. Teddy would only be calling so late if it were bad news. Immediately thinking the worst, his sister and Lily were at the forefront of his concerns. The idea of anything happening to them made him feel nauseous.

After he’d managed to sit up and clear the sleep from his throat, he didn’t waste any time finding out.

“What is it, Teddy? What happened?” Impatience clearly creeping into his tone.

“Um. It’s Lily.” The line went quiet as Jake’s palms started to sweat. “She’s a little ... um how do I say it ... She’s a little worse for wear.”

“She’s drunk?”

“Yeah. Wasted. And I thought maybe you ought to come on down.”

Thank God.

Even though he was relieved it wasn’t something more serious, he was struggling to wrap his head around why Lily would be drunk at Mickey’s on a Wednesday night. Especially when she hadn’t mentioned any plans to go out earlier when he spoke with her, nor had his sister.

After hanging up, he jumped out of bed, pulled on his jeans and continued to ponder. Lily didn’t seem like much of a drinker. In fact, if anything, she was a bit of a lightweight. The one time he’d seen her tipsy was at his sister’s girls’ night on two or maybe three small glasses of wine.

Maybe that’s it ... She had a couple of drinks and accidentally got hammered?

Once he’d parked outside, he noticed Lily straight away as he slung open the doors. And as soon as he caught sight of her draped over the bar, clinging to a half-empty bottle of whiskey, he knew he was wrong. This wasn’t “three glasses of wine” drunk; this was “does she need her stomach pumped” drunk.

Meeting Teddy’s gaze and giving him a nod, Jake blew out a long breath as he approached her.

“Hey there, darlin’.” He gently caressed the side of her exposed arm that lay on the bar.

She jolted up and twisted, a blurry-eyed look of anguish across her face. “Jake? Of course. Of course you called Jake.” She momentarily glared over at Teddy before swinging back around to him. “Go home, Jake. I don’t ... I don’t need saving,” she stuttered.

She was wasted all right. And angry as hell. What had happened? He would kick the ass of anyone who had the nerve to upset her. All of a sudden, he felt the urge to fix it, fix her. If she let him, he’d do anything to see that beautiful smile back on her face.

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